2. CONDITIONS

i.) Facilities

Surprisingly, a lot of organisations offering life classes give not a single thought to where models might leave their clothes when they take them off. A cubicle should be provided with chair, mirror, coat hooks and hangers, which can be kept cleaner than the surrounding art space. A screen is not really satisfactory, though better than nothing. There are many classes where the model has to dress and undress in front of the students. Ideally, where a male and a female model are required to pose together, there should be two cubicles.

There should be somewhere in the room where models can wash their feet, having got them coated in a tenacious mixture of paint and charcoal dust. Sinks intended for washing brushes etc. are usually set too high for any but the most long-legged models, and are often located far from the changing area (when there is one).

ii.) Drapes , mattresses, cushions

Where these exist at all, they are more often than not in an abominable state. In busy studios dedicated to life drawing, dozens of different people may have been sitting naked on the same piece of material since it was last washed. If one hesitates to clamber on to a vile-looking mattress, an equally unappealing piece of material is produced, to be placed over it. There are a few tutors who take it upon themselves to wash some of the pieces of material, and some models carry a clean sheet or cushion around with them; but ideally, a wide range of drapes of various colours and textures should be provided and kept clean, together with a decent mattress. There should also be a gym mat for the more energetic work.

iii.) Health and Safety

a.) Props

These can be classified as temporary and permanent. Permanent props, such as rostra, pedestals and boxes may have been bought as sturdy, purpose-built equipment fifty years ago, but no-one will have thought of examining them since. We have heard of several examples of models falling through such structures, sometimes tearing their legs on the rusty nails inside.

Perhaps an even worse hazard comes in the form of the temporary props set up by tutors for a particular pose. The constructional skills of some tutors is seriously deficient, but this does not stop them from building all sorts of weird and wonderful towers or heavy but wobbly background scenery. We are all for strange and exciting set-ups to pose on or among, but we wish that the skills of tutors in this direction were not so much taken for granted. We have asked models to report all accidents to us.

b.) Easels

Several models have reported being hit, or nearly hit, by falling easels. The authors of this document have themselves been victims of or witnessed such accidents. The problem is that nearly all organisations offering life drawing have equipped themselves with the type of folding easel that perches precariously of three small legs. The attraction of them is that they can be stacked away neatly after use, but in practice they are rarely stacked away at all.

The manufacturers claim that their product is safe in the right hands. This is true; but they are usually not in the right hands. They are quite complicated pieces of equipment requiring some instruction in their safe use, and this instruction is rarely forthcoming. (However, there are certainly tutors who devote part of the first class with a new intake of students to easel safety). These easels also need regular maintenance to ensure that the wing nuts can be tightened properly, yet there is often no maintenance at all.

Three of the most important points to conveyed to users of these easels are:

1. Make sure all wing nuts can be securely tightened. If they cannot be tightened, the easel should not be used. 2. Make sure the drawing board is securely fixed. 3. Never allow a student to move an easel with the drawing board in place. This is the most common cause of easels toppling over. As with accidents involving props, we have asked models to report all easel accidents to us.

c.) Dust

In sculpture studios, models are often required to lie close to the dust-covered floor on a dust-impregnated mattress. As people walk past the dust is stirred up. Some models have, or develop allergies to clay or plaster dust, so that rhinitis or respiratory problems result. These dusts have also been suspected of being able to cause cancer. Sometimes the only facilities for refreshment are within the studio (illegally), so that dust is ingested with food and drink.

Dust, in the form of charcoal, is also a problem in the life drawing studio, especially when people blow it off their drawings directly at the model. It can be quite a task to remove all of the charcoal from one’s nose, by the end of the day. There are regulations regarding dust in the workplace, such as the regular washing of floors, but these are rarely complied with.

d.) Sharp Objects

Students do not always trouble themselves to pick up drawing pins or craft knife blades from the floor when they drop them, and tutors often ignore this fact. Given the terrible state of a lot of life room floors, this is no laughing matter. Notices in connection with this should be displayed.

e.) Temperature

It does not seem very sensible to fix a minimum temperature for nude modelling, as used to be done, since people’s tolerance varies so much. What is important is that employers should provide equipment capable of maintaining any temperature required. This is understandably difficult in some studios that are not really suitable as life rooms, but it is unacceptable to ignore the problem and leave it to tutors or even models to provide ineffective domestic fan heaters. We advise models to refuse to undress rather than finish a day-long session with symptoms of mild hypothermia, which is not uncommon.

f.) Fire

Most models will have gone through the experience of having a fire alarm sound, either for a drill or the real thing, while posing. The tutor, having quickly and efficiently got all of the students out of the room, will then also disappear, not realising that the model is still behind the screen, struggling to pull on a few items of clothing. (Advice such as “Do not stop to collect any of your belongings” tends to be ignored when it is snowing outside and you are naked).

A partial solution might be to situate the changing area next to the fire exit; but anyone responsible for checking that the building has been evacuated should be told that models are likely to be left behind, probably out of sight.

g.) Injuries caused by poses

A large range of injuries and other health problems can be caused by the actual work of a model. But most of these are apparently of a very temporary nature. It has been suggested that certain medical conditions, some serious, in later life can result from spending thousands of hours keeping very still in various contortions, experiencing ‘dead’ legs and arms, acing back, stiff neck etc, over and over again. It is unlikely that any research has been done on this. What is certain is that most models have numb patches that last for years.

But when a model successfully sued a college over nerve damage caused by a pose, there was a lack of consensus among models as to the justification for this. Some said that an experienced model should know what sort of things are likely to cause problems; but supporters of the legal action said that this was precisely their point too. Given, they said, that there is no recognized training for life modelling and that selection is not always on grounds of skill and experience, an employer should be held to account if an untrained person is injured as a result of being given unsuitable work.

Tutors occasionally complain about models who put themselves in danger. These are often models of considerable experience who have worked up an ‘act’ over the years (for example, hanging from ropes secured to beams, or performing extraordinary contortions), who arrive at a class with their own ideas about what they are going to do. Just as models are entitled to refuse instructions that they consider hazardous, so are tutors entitled to forbid poses that they believe could be dangerous. (See also section 4.iv. ‘Unreasonable requests’).

h.) Breaks

Successive RAM discussions about models’ entitlement to breaks have all led to the conclusion that it is for the individual model to negotiate breaks with tutors.

Other sections

Pay Selection Contentious issues Reliability

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